Seismic surveying is used for identifying subterranean elements, such as hydrocarbon reservoirs, fresh water aquifers, gas injection reservoirs, and so forth. In performing seismic surveying, seismic sources are placed at various locations on an earth surface, sea floor or at a sea surface (or in a wellbore), with the seismic sources activated to generate seismic waves directed into a subterranean structure. Examples of seismic sources include explosives, air guns, or other sources that generate seismic waves.
The seismic waves generated by a seismic source travel into the subterranean structure, with a portion of the seismic waves reflected back to the surface (earth surface, sea floor, sea surface, or wellbore surface) for receipt by seismic sensors (e.g., geophones). These seismic sensors produce signals that represent detected seismic waves. Signals from the seismic sensors are processed to yield information about the content and characteristic of the subterranean structure.
As seismic waves travel through a subterranean structure, the seismic waves are subject to dissipation or absorption. The dissipation (absorption) effect induced by a subterranean structure can be represented by an absorption parameter Q, referred to as a seismic quality factor.
Reliable Q models are required to perform seismic processing applications that use inverse-Q filtering or integrated-Q migration, as examples. Various conventional techniques exist for developing Q models. However, such conventional techniques are associated with various drawbacks and/or limitations.